A $100 solar-powered tablet is coming soon

Here’s a series of ideas that are long overdue, getting computing power into the children of nations that normally can’t afford them plus take advantage of solar power. Get to know the name of this gentleman, Yves Behar, whose organization’s credo is “One Laptop Per Child” has already delivered 2.5M units and is working with the Mexican government at no cost to their kids so they can learn using some of the latest technology that also is as Green as it gets, in color and in zero carbon footprint since it is solar-powered.

As one the of the lyrics from one of the most popular songs that the late Whitney Houston once sang, “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.”

3 Cheers to Vyes Behar, let’s see if we can start incorporating this type of Green Technology in more places and leave this planet in better shape that when we first received it for our children!

The Swiss designer, now based in San Francisco, has plenty of commercial hits. That gives him the financial freedom to pursue his belief that design can change the world. It’s a passion he put to work on his most famous project, One Laptop Per Child, better known as “the $100 laptop.”

Now he’s nearing completion of the sequel: A $100 tablet. It’s rugged, solar-powered, and designed for children in the world’s poorest countries.

“The tablet is a refinement of the laptop,” Behar told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta in interviews for “The Next List.” “It’s much smaller, it’s much lighter, it uses less energy, less materials — it can be even more cost effective.”

The project began six years ago when Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of MIT’s Media Lab, approached Behar with an idea many deemed impossible: create an inexpensive and impeccably designed laptop for children across the world.

“He described to me his vision of education, his vision for technology being available to all,” Behar says.”I got very inspired for the first time in the field of technology.”

“It’s in some sense more integral than food and water,” Negroponte says of the project’s mission. “With education, you can actually solve the water problem and the energy problems and, you know, the health problems.”

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, OLPC showed off its next breakthrough: the XO-3 tablet. Like the original laptop, it’s designed to appeal to kids — and to survive their rough handling.

The tablet’s screen is both flexible and durable, Behar says. The bright-green cover includes a solar panel that lets the laptop charge in sunlight. Gizmodo raved about the demo model on display at CES, calling it “perfectly suited to its target environs.” The XO-3 is slated for release later this year.

“I think many times in the last 10 or 11 years or so, we have created products and experiences and built brands where others didn’t think it was possible,” he says.

His latest pro bono projectis another venture into uncharted territory.

After being approached by the Mexican government and Augen Optics to help with their “See Better to Learn Better” campaign, Behar designed a collection of customizable eye glasses that could be given away for free to students in Mexico.

“They were inspired by One Laptop Per Child,” he says. “The manufacturing cost had to be extremely low, and at the same time they had to be really engaging.”

That’s the catch. “Children in Mexico and most of South America really see wearing eyeglasses as a stigma,” Behar says. So he created an array of multi-colored glasses and encouraged children to have fun choosing their own colors.

Behar takes on those kinds of projects at no cost.

“I can’t tell you that’s what made business sense,” he says. “But I can tell you that’s what made human sense.”